That Depends
by Kirra kills
Summary: paul finds himself being dragged down a hallway by antibus. first fic. i dunno what i was thinking, please don't shoot me! it's kinda antibus/Paul fluff. rated teen for implied slash and language. oneshot, maybe. unless you want more.
1. the act of kidnapping

**A/N **_**Takes place sometime after the season 1 end. I dunno when, maybe a year**_**.**

_That Depends_

Paul struggled, sliding across the cold linoleum on his back, trying to break free of the death-grip on his leg.

"Let go!"

He shouted at the person who was dragging him, his voice enraged, frustrated. Scared.

"And if I don't?"came back the reply, amused.

They both knew, him and the damnable ant-eater, Antibus, that at that moment, Paul could do absolutely nothing, and it pissed Paul off to no end. Paul turned his head, seething. A quiet chuckle floated over him.

"Didn't think so"the words in the chuckle said.

Grinding his teeth, Paul relaxed every muscle in his body, letting the giant ant-eater drag him along like some kind of devilishly handsome rag-doll.

He thought about what had happened a little over half an hour ago. He had been minding his own business, terrorizing the trauma patients with the last of his powers before he had to go back to that stupid tank to recharge. He had been screwing with a little kid when he heard a deep growl and felt hot breath on the back of his neck. The next thing he knew, he was being dragged by his rival and enemy to who-knows where! It was embarrassing.

There! Antibus's giant paw had loosened around his ankle, ever so slightly. Paul acted immediately, bucking his body and pulling his leg back simultaneously, trying to get it out of Antibus's grasp. At the same time, kicking out at the same time, trying to connect to the creature's… hand, paw, whatever. It was all in vain, however, as Antibus simply jerked on Paul's leg, pulling the body higher than Paul intended and sending him crashing down onto the hard floor. The wildly kicking leg was easily caught and subdued by the free hand, and transferred to join the fate of its pair in the other giant fist.

"how did I know you were going to try something like that," sighed Antibus.

Paul just stared up at him, the hit his head had taken during the scuffle leaving him a bit dazed. For a few minutes, they proceeded in silence, Paul, brooding all the way. Finally, he spoke.

"Where are you taking me?" he demanded.

silence

"Where are we going?" his voice a little less sure.

silence

"What are you going to do with me?" downright scared, now

silence

"_Antibuuus!_" Paul practically screamed, terrified of his captor's refusal to speak

"Well," A soft chuckle,

and Paul's legs are abruptly released, freeing him, but not for long. Before Paul had a chance to move, to _escape_, or even think about it, he was being pinned to the ground. It was Antibus, and it wasn't. Gone was the fur, the snout, the claws. In place was a lanky human boy. Black hair, pale skin, leather coat, black outfit. The only thing was the eyes. You can't change eyes. The youth looked at the form under him, trying to escape from him. It was amusing. He smiled, and leaned in closely to Paul.

"that depends" he whispered into the other boy's ear.

Paul stilled. "On what?" he asked, nervously.

Soft laughter filled the corridor as Antibus drew back a little to see his captive. Paul, apprehensive, nervous, scared? Yep, definatly fear there. Paul, so jaded in some things, so childishly innocent in others. Antibus's smile grew.

"You" he whispered


	2. the art of blackmailing

**A/N**_** Oh, forgot to mention in the first chapter, I do not own Kingdom Hospital, Antibus, paul or anyone or anything else mentioned in this fiction that would need a patent. Thank-you. **_

_That Depends_

Paul was furious. Why? He was handcuffed. How you got handcuffs to _work_ on a ghost was beyond him, but that was beside the point. The _point_ was that the bastard who had handcuffed him was sitting across from him, obviously pleased with himself, if that smirk was anything to go by. He leaned forward, trying to get away from the cold iron he was cuffed too. The cuffs bit into his wrists, making him grimace in pain, growling slightly. The damned beast-boy's grin only grew. Sitting on the floor, cuffed to a bed-leg. Only Antibus could take a potentially perverted situation and turn it into something so…odd.

"Antibus, let me _go_." snarled the cuffed boy.

The boy in question only leaned forward. "No." he said, grinning.

Paul sighed, he had expected that. When it came to Antibus, Paul had known him far too long.

"Why did you drag me down the hallway?"

"…I got bored." responded the black-clad boy, shrugging.

"Okay, why did you bring me here?" asked Paul, surprised. He hadn't been expecting that answer.

Antibus shrugged again. "Bored, what else?"

Paul looked at him, incredulous. "You kidnapped me, dragged me down the hallway, handcuffed me to a _bed"_, Antibus snickered, making Paul grit his teeth. The damned death-god could be so immature at times. Not that he could talk, he was a 17-year-old dead boy, for crying out loud! "And you expect me to accept that you did all that just because you were _bored_?"

Antibus had sat silently through the rant, cross-legged, elbows on knees, head resting on folded hands, smiling. May bad luck befall him. Oh, wait, it already had. Now it was handcuffed to a bed in an empty hospital rooms in the Old Kingdom. Go figure.

Now the long-haired boy spoke. "Does that _really_ surprise you?" he asked, chuckling.

"You're a dumb-ass." Spat Paul, disgusted.

A smirk on the other's face, typical. "Takes one to know one, my friend." Was the only response.

They sat in silence for a long while after that. The captive, the captor, the captive looking away, seething, the captor staring at him, grinning like the Cheshire cat himself. The sat quietly, listening to the screams and moans of the spirits at unrest wandering the halls. Finally, Antubis broke the silence.

"Feeling tired, Paul?" he questioned, false innocence heavy in his voice.

Paul's eyes stared out at him murderously from under his bangs. "Shut up." He muttered.

Antubis leaned back, satisfied. 'I'll take that as a yes" he told Paul, who only growled, causing the other one to laugh more, making Paul's scowl deeper.

Paul was worried. Antibus didn't seem to have any intentions of releasing him any time soon, which was very bad. Normally, Paul could fade away, leave this situation behind, except now he _couldn't_, and it scared him. If he didn't get back to the saline tank soon, he'd fade away, more than dead. There was nothing for the unlucky ghosts who had that fate, they simply did not exist anymore, any chance of redemption lost. The minutes ticked by, Antibus still staring at him, still smiling. Paul was panicking now.

"Antibus, let me go! _Antibus_!" Paul silently cursed himself; he hadn't meant to sound so weak. A certain bastard had probably enjoyed it.

The other boy leaned back, enjoying his captive's struggles. Seeing the younger boy like this amused him greatly. He leaned back a little more and picked up a can that had, up till now, been sitting beside him.

"Want a Nozz-a-la?" he asked lightly, holding the can teasingly out to Paul "it'll perk ya right up!"

The other looked at him, genuine panic in his eyes. "Antibus!" Paul's face begging, pleading, _please, please_... Antibus held firm.

He set the soda down, never taking his eyes off of Paul.

"Maybe", he said, for once serious. "If you say it right." Paul looked at him, confused. Antibus sighed.

"My name, Paul. Say it right." He gently told the ghost-boy.

The boy glowered at him. they both knew he knew the right name for the leather clad figure in front of him, but Paul liked calling Antibus the name that stupid little brat had given him, it annoyed the death-god to no end and they both knew it. Besides, he wasn't that desperate, yet. A few more minutes crawled by, Antibus waiting patiently all the while. Finally, Paul broke.

"_FINE!_"He screamed at the death god, "_ANUBIS! ANUBIS, ALREADY! NOW LET ME GO!_"

Antibus, or _Anubis_, really, grinned at the panicked ghost-boy. I don't recall hearing a 'please,'" the death-god mused.

A wail from his captive. The silence drew out it's breath as time inched by. Paul glaring hatefully through his bangs at Anubis, too tired to really do anything else. The death-god simply waited. Finally, finally, Paul's need won out over his pride. His shoulders slumped; his head dropped to his chest.

"…I'll do you a solid" Paul muttered.

Anubis cupped a hand around his ear and leaned forward, looking very sly. "Excuse me?" the boy said in false curiosity. "I don't think I heard that…"

Paul's head jerked up, a wounded, betrayed look on his face. _Damn,_ he thought_. He's_ _actually going to make me_ say _it?_ If the other boy's face was anything to go by, yes, yes he was. Silently, Paul cursed. Just his luck, _Fuck_.

"If you do me a solid, I'll do you a solid. Isn't that what you always tell the short-times?" Anubis sat back, bemused.

"So," he said. "You really_ have_ been paying attention!" Paul sighed, ignoring the insult. He had_ not_ been stalking Anubis. He just, happened to be in the same rooms as the anteater a lot lately, that's all.

"Well, if you release me, you'll be doing me a solid, then, I can do you a solid." Paul was reaching for straws, and he knew it.

But, to his utter surprise, the beast-boy got up, reaching into his jacket as he did so, and walked over to Paul, producing a key from a hidden pocket. He sat, knees on either side of his prisoner's narrow hips, sitting on Paul's legs. At said boy's sharp intake of breath, Anubis placed the key against Paul's lips.

"Don't. Panic." Said the death-god. With that, he roughly grabbed the back of Pau's head and jerked it into his shoulder, holding it there until he was sure Paul wouldn't try to pull away. Once he knew Paul would cooperate, he let his hand trail downwards. From head to neck, neck to shoulder, shoulder to back, back to-

Paul rolled his head to one side. "Hey!" he said, annoyed. "I'm pretty sure my hands aren't cuffed _there_!"

unfortunately, when Paul had rolled his head, he had rolled it into Anubis's neck. Making his words clear, but also causing the breath to move against skin in a slightly distracting manner. Anubis laughed.

"Why, Paul, getting a little _flustered_, are we?" he teased. The ghost-boy just growled and moved his head back into Anubis's shoulder, the death-god sadly now able to feel the exact location of the lips and nose.. Anubis reached out a little from where his hand had been previously and grabbed the chain connecting the cuffs, yanking on them harder than was probably necessary. This caused the bound boy to gasp, his head jerking up, off of Anubis's shoulder. Anubis moved it forward slightly, so that when Paul's head came back down, it was his neck that landed on the shoulder, not his face. Anubis grinned and got to work on the lock, the hand with the key snaking around the other boy's torso to do so.

They sat like this for a few minutes, Anubis fiddling with the lock. Eventually, Paul spoke, if only to appease his bored curiosity.

"Wouldn't it be easier if you did this from the side?" a faint laugh reached his ears at that.

"Maybe," conceded the death-god, "but it would also be a lot less fun!" he started laughing harder when Paul snorted in disgust. And then, a satisfied "ha!" as the key finally slid into the lock.

Paul felt a hand wrap itself around his jaw, and then his head was yanked back and to the side, until he found himself staring into a pair of annoying black eyes. Anubis's voice came then, low, deadly, _threatening_. "Remember," he whispered, you owe me a solid."

Paul flashed a savage grin. "If ya need me, you'll know where ta look." He hissed back.

The key turned,

The lock clicked.

The only things in the room were a pair of hand-cuffs and a can of Nozz-A-La, gathering dust on the floor.

**This isn't the end, there are a few more chappies coming up! Just don't expect them anytime soon…ok, hope you enjoyed! You know, I rewrote and rewrote this chapter, and it still cam out like this! Oh, well. That's the way the plot bunnies run, I guess.**


	3. The Need to Remember

"Hurry doctor! The patient is fading!"

"Stabilize him, hurry!"

Paul gave a grim smile as he tightened his grip on the teen's neck, staring into wild eyes that could see him. Not unusual, not with trauma patients like this. The truly unusual thing would be if he could still see him after he recovered. If Paul didn't kill him right here and now, that is. The Living Dead Boy was still debating on that point. The pale skinned kid stopped struggling, causing Paul to frown in annoyance. It wasn't any fun if he just rolled over. Paul tightened his hand and the kid swallowed painfully. "Just….let me….die…" the doctors and nurses looked at each other and looked down at the bloody mess of the long-haired teen. Paul's personal least favorite doctor shook his head. "We're getting you help, kid. Just hang in there. Death isn't the answer, believe me" Paul bared his teeth at Doctor Hook and squeezed, laughing as the heartbeat sped, the gasping increased and- "What do you think you are doing?" Paul gritted his teeth as a certain annoying face-stealer gripped his shoulder and wrenched the bad boy away from the patient. And began hauling him down the hall. "I don't need anymore deaths right now, friend. Being the Gatekeeper has it's perks, but there are some…curious abnormalities at this moment, and I am busy. You killing victims of hate crimes isn't helping anything"

Paul rolled his eyes and grinned, delighted that he'd pulled the shaggy dog of Mary's out of the hole he'd been hiding in for the past months. "Hm. I've noticed new faces in the Kingdom, a boy with very cold blue eyes, a true aura of the dead Gunslingers about that one. Then, a girl. Blind I think. Tip-toed in and out of the Kingdom like nobody's business. A whole army of kids, some of them didn't have pieces of themselves, and an alcoholic doctor-not like I haven't seen them before, but this one was different. He had a power even I didn't feel like waking up. Doctor Sleep, leading dying souls to….you? if they're all your work, I can see why you didn't bother popping up sooner!" His derisive laugh earned him a vicious twist of his arm and Paul hissed in pain, more annoyed the usually good boy kept getting the better of him. "Just refrain from sending every kid who rolls in here on a gurney into the Kingdom, hm? I'm busy. The tower is falling and it's upsetting the balance. Sawyer just died in one world. It's not a very good thing when a single natured human passes. There's no balance and running to different dimensions just makes it more difficult" Paul gave a disgusted, annoyed and confused look. Some things the anteater-turned human freak had said made sense. He knew about the Territories and Twinners and Jack Sawyer the single-natured. Hell, if you got down to it, Paul and Antibus could technically be Twinners. However, everything else just downright confused him.

Paul growled as Antibus finally let go of him, shoving him against a wall and staring at the other boy impassively, arms folded. Paul clenched his fists and bared his teeth in a sick grin, whirling around. "I am sick of you pushing me around! When did you get so mean?!" Antibus smirked. "Oh, is big bad Paul whining? Does the baby need to be taken care of? Did you really think the only thing we share is a face? I've just got a moral code" Paul snorted, feeling a little stung. "Some moral code. Manipulating a little girl into dying so you can undo a wrong" Antibus shrugged. "The end justifies the means" Was all he stated and began walking away. Something in Paul snapped. "LOOK AT ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU!" he screamed and sent a bolt of energy after the smug god. Antibus moved his head to the left just enough for it to miss him, and the wall at the end of the hall was hit instead. In the hospital, a stand of computers exploded.

Antibus paused and looked back at the fuming Living Dead Boy. "My, my. Throwing a temper tantrum? Maybe I _should_ treat you like a child. Be your dutiful companion. Can you ring a bell, Paul? Should we find you a doll?" Paul snarled, though he could see what Antibus meant. Antibus or _Anubis_ as he probably would prefer being called, had been what Mary had needed. A friend, a companion. He'd been nice because Mary had _needed_ someone nice. Paul didn't need that, not really. But seeing the other being sarcastic and conniving, while he'd always thought Antibus was, really, it was unnerving because it was out of the ordinary.

Antibus sighed and shook his head. "You are so lost. By the way, has the memory of before improved? You know, from when you had a _heartbeat_?" Paul blinked. How did he know he couldn't remember his life? Paul looked away for a moment, and when he looked back, Antibus was gone. Paul cursed and went to the room with the victim from earlier. Past killing and sleeping rather fitfully. Austin Morse was what his board said. Paul frowned slightly. It rang bells. He shook his head and left the kid, going back to his tank, fuming at how he kept letting Antibus push his buttons. And Austin kept edging in as well. There was something familiar about the name, and the face…tied in with a voice.

"_Be careful, Paul!"_

It was several hours before he could put the familiar but unknown voice out of his head.

**A/N: okay, several references to King's other works here. His new book Doctor Sleep, The Talisman and its sequel Black House, The Langoliers, Dreamcatcher, and The Dark Tower series. That's all of them I think. If you don't know, a Twinner is essentially another you from another dimension. However, it's hinted that they can meet each other in the afterlife or in dreams. I thought it was an interesting explanation as to why Paul and Antibus have the same face and similar powers. Yes, Austin Morse is an AU, but not really that important. The person he's connected to, however…and yes, this person is an actual character, but is this person from KH? You'll have to find out! –cue evil laughter- and sorry for taking so long, I just didn't have any inspiration for this fic for a very long time ^^;**


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